Cohen met ex-girlfriend at spa known for prostitution

February 05, 2010

Democratic lieutenant governor nominee Scott Lee Cohen insists that he didn't know that the woman he met at a Glenview massage parlor in 2005 was a prostitute. But records show that at about the same time he visited the spa and met the woman, Amanda J. Eneman, the business had been the subject of numerous complaints of prostitution.

Eneman herself was arrested for prostitution at the Eden Spa in April 2005 for performing a sex act on an undercover police officer in exchange for $150. The police report quoted her telling the officer at the end of their session that prostitution was common there.

Cohen said he got only a "straight massage" at the Eden Spa, with no sexual contact. He said Eneman became his live-in girlfriend after they met there. Later, she accused him of domestic battery, but the charge was dropped after she failed to appear in court.

Details of the battery arrest, including her allegation that he held a knife to her throat, have surfaced since Cohen's primary victory, leading to calls for him to step aside. Cohen has called on his former girlfriend to come forward and discuss their relationship publicly so that "the facts come to light." But she has yet to do so.

While Cohen has not given a detailed timeline for his relationship with Eneman, his statements indicate that he likely met her around April 2005. Glenview police shut the spa down after the April 22 arrests, and Cohen has said that his relationship with Eneman lasted "five or six months." The incident that led to the battery charge occurred Oct. 14, about six months after her arrest. She pleaded guilty Oct. 27 to the prostitution charge, meaning she was charged and dealing with that case while they lived together at Cohen's Gold Coast apartment.

When the Tribune first asked Cohen about the relationship on Wednesday, Cohen said through a spokesman that he met her in a bar. But Thursday he acknowledged that he met her at Eden Spa. Cohen said Thursday that the first explanation was a misstatement by his spokesman.